History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2: Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as CitizensWilliams, George Washington
History
History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2: Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens
Williams, George Washington
African Americans -- History; Liberia; Sierra Leone
"A certain ship, the 'Francis Todd,' from Newburyport, came to
Baltimore and took in a load of slaves for the New Orleans
market. All the harrowing cruelties and separations which attend
the rending asunder of families and the sale of slaves, were
enacted under the eyes of the youthful philanthropist, and in a
burning article he denounced the inter-State slave-trade as
piracy, and piracy of an aggravated and cruel kind, inasmuch as
those born and educated in civilized and Christianized society
have more sensibility to feel the evils thus inflicted than
imbruted savages. He denounced the owners of the ship and all the
parties in no measured terms, and expressed his determination to
'cover with thick infamy all who were engaged in the
transaction.'"
Then, to be sure, the sleeping tiger was roused, for there was a vigor
and power in the young editor's eloquence that quite dissipated the
good-natured contempt which had hitherto hung round the paper. He was
indicted for libel, found guilty, of course, condemned, imprisoned in
the cell of a man who had been hanged for murder. His mother at this
time was not living, but her heroic, undaunted spirit still survived
in her son, who took the baptism of persecution and obloquy not merely
with patience, but with the joy which strong spirits feel in
endurance. He wrote sonnets on the walls of his prison, and by his
cheerful and engaging manners made friends of his jailer and family,
who did everything to render his situation as comfortable as possible.
Some considerable effort was made for his release, and much interest
was excited in various quarters for him.[13]
Finally, the benevolent Arthur Tappan came forward and paid the
exorbitant fine imposed upon Garrison, and he went forth a more
inveterate foe of slavery. This incident gave the world one of the
greatest reformers since Martin Luther. Without money, social
influence, or friends, Garrison lifted again the standard of liberty.
He began a lecture tour in which God taught him the magnitude of his
work. Everywhere mouths were sealed and public halls closed against
him. At length, on January 1, 1831, he issued the first number of "The
Liberator," which he continued to edit for thirty-five years, and
discontinued it only when every slave in America was free! His methods
of assailing the modern Goliath of slavery were thus tersely put:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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